If it weren’t for his outfit’s enchantments, Vedas had no doubt that his spine would have snapped.

His palms made a ringing sound as he tapped the man’s back. “Good to see you too, Erling.”

Sir Erling Havenlight was the commander of the Order of the Shining Beacon, an Order of knights sworn to the Marquis House of Agis for generations, a genius aura user and renowned for his swordsmanship, he was a commoner elevated by Vedas’ father for his service. He was also Vedas’ Godfather, and one of the people who unerringly supported him throughout his childhood.

“I tried to stop him, Ved, I truly did.” The man whispered in Vedas’ ears, his voice thick with guilt.

“I know, Erl, I-… Oxius was too bullheaded to do anything else anyway.” Vedas responded.

Oxius Agis, Vedas’ brother had joined the Order of the Shining Beacon and became Vice Commander before the advent of the war, he was headstrong and dutiful at the same time, stubborn in his desire to serve the family, he was a man obsessed with duty, which frankly, explained his desire to martyrdom, as in his mind if his father and brother sacrificed themselves for honor, then it is but right to do so himself.

Erling reluctantly let go of his hold. “I would love nothing but to catch up, but the situation is grave, and we have to prepare.”

“Tell me.” The Archmage responded, approaching the map.

“House Madras has spent considerable resources employing mercenary companies, and Count Jevius sent a company of his retinue to reinforce his rule until they settle matters, we have better troops but they outnumber us ten to one, plus we lack the necessary supplies necessary for a long conflict...” Erling stared at Vedas’ Halo. “Although I hope that with your involvement, we’d be able to find salvation in our greatest need, Archwizard of Light.”

“I thought news about my achievements were scarce this side of the world.” Vedas remarked.

“They usually are, but your father was very eager to hear about your accomplishment, he regularly sent envoys to the Mage’s Guild in the capital, asking for updates on you.” He shrugged. “We don’t know much, but the local Guild Master was very eager to speak about your position as Archwizard. I believe you’re the only one to get that honor in the history of the Irearith kingdom.”

“I guess so, now, tell me about the troops.”

“Of the regular army, I’m afraid there are none, any soldier that made allegiance to the house of Agis is either dead, in hiding, or they have joined the enemy.” He sighs. “I can’t even blame them, not everyone has the luxury to only have responsibility over himself. You only have the order to count on, all eight hundred knights left, each one of us is a veteran, and we’re used to fighting against odds.”

“How many are aura users?”

Aura is how close combat specialists get to bridge the gap between them and magic users, while magic users require study and experimentation to learn, aura is a purely instinctive and grows with battle experience and self-exploration, it is the meathead method, as Vedas describes it.

“All of us, technically, most of those who survived had to have their aura flame rekindled in order to have a chance of survival, and those who didn’t unlocked it in life threatening situations, five hundred of the eight are barely Apprentices, we didn’t have much time to train them with the specifics, the rest are Journeymen, apart from me and Theodore, who are both Masters.”

What Erling is alluding to is the method by which Aura users are ranked, Aura is unlocked by a process called rekindling, through bone breaking practice, deep meditation, or life threatening battles, any person may supercharge their bodies natural instincts into using their natural ability to gather mana to feed into their life force through their hearts.

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The mana resembles a flame that exists in your heart, which is why it is usually called an aura flame, the bigger the flame the better. The advantage that Aura users have over magic users, is that the threshold of entry is way lower, any random man or woman may unlock it, but unless they have a support structure that offers specialized training for aura users (like a knight order), then the only way you can grow stronger is through life or death moments.

One of Vedas’ previous companions through his adventures was a man who unlocked it at 8 years old playing around in his village, and he grew to a respectable level through simple battle and nothing else. But that guy was a freak of nature and the exception, so most people who do unlock aura tend to join Knight Orders, organized militaries, or warrior sects…

“Really?” Vedas asked. “From what I felt from you I thought you’d be a grandmaster.”

Erling sheepishly scratches the back of his head. “I guess I am?” He responded. “But I’m not publicly recognized as one so I don’t address myself as such.”

The Archmage just hummed in response.

“Well, what about our enemies?” He asked.

“Well, the Madras’ seem to have accumulated a lot of gold over the years. I think some of our knights had heard that they took major loans from several sources, including the Onyx Bank, in order to pay for mercenaries. The sellsword companies that they chose had respectable reputations for mercenaries, they all seemed fairly organized and professional, so we shouldn’t expect to just bulldoze through them, they number some eight thousand mixed troops. The issues, however, are Count Jevius’ reinforcements, or King now, I guess.”

“King?”

“Yes, King Jevius Keston the First.” Answered Erling. “There are a lot of them now, most nobles who had respectable armies and even the lightest relation to the royal family now are declaring their rule, and usually in cases where all the members of the royal family perish there are always powerful factions that are able to directly replace them without issue. But the only major noble that came out of the war relatively intact is Duke Gunther, and the man is highly isolationist and does not care about the mainland.”

Vedas just nodded and mentioned for Erling to continue.

“Anyway, Jevius has vowed to help Chrismund Madras in his coup if he were to pledge his loyalty to his new kingdom, with the new lands, his armies would have direct contact to the sea and straight path to the capital, so in order to secure it he has sent half of his knights, one thousand and five hundred horsemen, only a quarter of them should be able to use aura, but they are very well trained and equipped, their leader, Urith, is a master aura swordsman of his own right, so we’ll have to pit one of ours against him in order to limit our casualties.”

Erling mentions the map on the desk, you could see the general outline of the surrounding lands. Agis territory lies on the north eastern side of the Irearith Kingdom, in the north you’ve got the Irearith ocean, named after the kingdom connected with it, in the east you’ll find the Makragh mountain range, a series of mountains that extend from their territories all the way up to the treacherous north where the Kog’zul lead countless campaign against the Iron wall.

In the west, you have the Starblight Forest, home to the Starborn Elves, and their current position. Just at the border of the forest lays the Agis Castle, heart of the Marquisate, Vedas’ childhood home, and the enemy base.

They are currently somewhere around the south east region of the forest, with the cast somewhat directly above their relative position.

Erling points to their general area. “Our scouts reported several enemy rangers looking for us, none of them wore Keston heraldry so we can expect that Chrismund, or Urith, are using the mercenaries as fodders to figure out our exact position. We’ve been evading their detection for a while now, and have killed a considerable amount of their ranging parties, but our men are getting exhausted and it’s only a matter of time until our position is compromised.”

“They’re really cautious huh…” Vedas commented.

“Yeah, sadly they aren’t foolish enough to scatter their forces, most of their forces are stationed at the castle, building fortifications while our supplies are drying up. The more we let them be the worse our chances look, which leaves us with two choices, either we abandon our cause and seek greener pastures, or we besiege the castle in a last ditch effort…”

“They’re winning and they know it.”

“Right…” Erling solemnly answers.

Vedas smiles at Erling with a malicious glint in his eyes. “I bet they didn’t count on me.” A crystal dagger suddenly appears in his hand, which he stabs in the map right at the enemy’s position.

“Well, if they asked for it, they shall certainly receive it.”